Linguist, author, and game-designer M.A.R. Barker (b.1926 as Philip Barker) died on March 16. Barker created the role playing game Empire of the Petal Throne, which was published by TSR in 1975. Additional games and novels based on his world of Tekumel followed, including the games Swords and Glory, Gardásiyal, and Tékumel: Empire of the Petal Throne. As with Tolkien, Barker was a linguist who used his knowledge of languages to sculpt a complex world.